Author: rosiewednesday

The holidays are upon us, and that means it’s time for party dress sewing! The wiggle dress that was so popular in the 1950s and 60s makes for a superb va-va voom party dress, and with the right fabric, perfect for this time of year. The pattern for this one is from Gertie’s New Book for Better Sewing, and the fabric is a silk brocade from Britex in San Francisco.

The dress has princess seams on the front bodice, and a side dart to provide extra shaping. The sleeves are kimono in style, so there are also underarm gussets. A necessity if you want to be able to move your arms while you wiggle! There’s also a vent at the back to allow extra movement. I love the deep V in the back especially.

I feel like such a movie star in this dress! I think it’s such a testament to how wonderful sewing is. I would have never considered wearing something like this until I started sewing. But when you can make it to measure just right for your figure, it’s comfortable and glamorous!

I recently attended Dapper Day, a vintage-themed event at Walt Disney World in the Magic Kingdom. It was a Disney and vintage-lover’s dream! I sewed two dresses for the occasion, one for me (in red) and one for my friend Andi (in blue).

For my dress, I sewed Butterick 8408 ,a 1958 pattern. I love the bow detail at the neckline and waist. It had some interesting construction details, included a zipper inserted into a dart! The skirt was also tremendously full, which ended out working great for petticoat-wearing.

For my friend Andi, I sewed a pattern I designed and drafted myself that has a bit of a nod to the 1940s. It has six darts at the neckline, cap sleeves, and a full skirt. I call it “The Marfa Dress,” after a town in Texas that has mysterious lights.

Halloween is almost upon us! In honor of the day, I stitched up a novelty print dress inspired by this vintage ad.

I used Vintage Vogue 8811 for the pattern. It matched the silhouette of the dress from the ad just perfectly! The spiderweb fabric is completely sheer and tulle-like in texture, so I underlined the dress with a black cotton.

I love dressing up for Halloween, but there are only so many places/events where you can wear a costume. A spooktacular frock? I can wear it all month long!

Doesn’t this dress remind you of some wonderfully classy dress Jackie Kennedy would wear? It’s Christine Haynes’ newest pattern, the Emery Dress. I think it’s the darling bow that really does it. I just love the 1960s vibe!

I used a teal linen for the fabric on this dress, and although it gets terribly wrinkly, it was a dream to sew and feels wonderful on. This pocket also has inseam pockets, which are wonderfully convenient.

I’m already addicted to this pattern and will be stitching up two more versions of this dress on my blog this month, what I’m calling “Emery Month”

After my favorite pair of store-bought cigarette-style pants had too many mends to be functional anymore, I decided I needed to bite the bullet and sew my very first pair of pants. When Gertie released a pattern for high-waisted capris through Butterick, I knew I had found what I was looking for!

How I Knew Fit Would Be… Interesting

Following the method outlined in Fit for Real People, I had created a “body graph” that helped me map my body and compare it to the big pattern companies. Much to my surprise, I discovered my left leg was chubbier than my right!

Now I can say I have conquered pants! I liked the pattern so much I went out and bought fabric in denim for summer and a plaid wool for winter, so I’ll be making these lovelies again soon. Happy sewing!

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